WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.560 We all love to be on a throne. 00:00:03.560 --> 00:00:05.600 We love to be in the center. 00:00:05.600 --> 00:00:08.080 We love to be in that zone. 00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:12.080 And on that throne, it's a great place to be for us because it's a place where we can 00:00:12.080 --> 00:00:14.439 judge other people. 00:00:14.439 --> 00:00:17.600 And we like to think that we have the measure, I think, of other people. 00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:21.519 We weigh them up and we judge them. 00:00:21.519 --> 00:00:29.120 And by so doing, we maybe come to the conclusion that they're worth our time or not. 00:00:29.120 --> 00:00:36.240 We learn facts about people and what we don't know or what we can't know, we make up. 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:41.280 And we then put everyone's character into a box and we close the box and we put our 00:00:41.280 --> 00:00:43.120 name over it. 00:00:43.120 --> 00:00:46.120 And that becomes that person. 00:00:46.120 --> 00:00:47.960 Their name identifies them. 00:00:47.960 --> 00:00:50.320 It identifies what we've learned about them. 00:00:50.320 --> 00:00:55.680 It identifies what we think we know about them and identifies their character to us. 00:00:55.679 --> 00:01:00.920 Their name becomes them for good or for ill sometimes, isn't it, the case? 00:01:00.920 --> 00:01:05.200 And sometimes we have very long memories when we open that box to some of the things that 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:08.239 we're not so keen about in other people. 00:01:08.239 --> 00:01:14.519 So we associate someone's name with the character that we've learned about them that we've put 00:01:14.519 --> 00:01:16.319 into this box. 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:21.519 And so we bring the two things together and that's quite important. 00:01:21.519 --> 00:01:25.359 It's a bit like when we say, as we've said over the last few weeks here in church, it's 00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:27.719 a lot of new faces in church. 00:01:27.719 --> 00:01:30.799 Now what we don't mean by that, we don't mean there's lots of disembodied faces, what, 00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:33.359 come floating into the church on a Sunday. 00:01:33.359 --> 00:01:40.000 But we associate the face with the person in the same way that we associate a name with 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:44.120 a person which is important. 00:01:44.120 --> 00:01:48.079 So I guess an extreme example of that was that not many of us, I don't suppose, would 00:01:48.079 --> 00:01:51.039 call our child Adolf. 00:01:51.040 --> 00:01:57.840 Just because we associate a name with a character for good or for bad, or sometimes we hear 00:01:57.840 --> 00:02:03.320 a child's name and we think, wow, not so keen on that name, not because of the name itself, 00:02:03.320 --> 00:02:07.360 but because of the association of that name with a teacher, maybe that maybe used to belt 00:02:07.360 --> 00:02:11.319 us in school, showing certain age here, obviously. 00:02:11.319 --> 00:02:13.680 But it may be that that's the case. 00:02:13.680 --> 00:02:20.080 It's why we feel embarrassed when we forget people's name, because personhood is associated 00:02:20.080 --> 00:02:21.760 with names. 00:02:21.760 --> 00:02:27.360 And to dehumanize someone, we take away their name from them and give them, for example, 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:35.600 a number as often been done to torture or dehumanize people in different contexts. 00:02:35.600 --> 00:02:40.200 So short and simple tonight, what about this commandment, you shall not take the name of 00:02:40.200 --> 00:02:44.480 the Lord your God in vain. 00:02:44.480 --> 00:02:45.480 What is it saying? 00:02:45.480 --> 00:02:49.920 Well, it's reminding us, I think in the first place that God simply is. 00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:55.439 God simply is, we shall not take His name and all that that means and the character 00:02:55.439 --> 00:03:02.679 that's behind it, we shall not treat it like something that's empty of reality and empty 00:03:02.679 --> 00:03:05.199 of truth. 00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:07.119 And that's because He's revealed who He is. 00:03:07.119 --> 00:03:13.560 So we don't get to choose who God is because He's revealed Himself in His character through 00:03:13.560 --> 00:03:14.759 His name. 00:03:14.759 --> 00:03:19.399 We know about Him because of what He's revealed. 00:03:19.400 --> 00:03:22.080 It's like someone telling you who you are. 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:28.520 You know, if someone's, oh, I meant, yeah, that's that guy with long, long, blonde, flowing 00:03:28.520 --> 00:03:31.920 hair, he's 36 and he owns a BMW Cabriolet. 00:03:31.920 --> 00:03:38.680 Now, I might want that to be true, but it's not true and of course, it becomes far worse 00:03:38.680 --> 00:03:41.319 if it's libelous or slanderous. 00:03:41.319 --> 00:03:44.080 And yet we do that with God all the time. 00:03:44.080 --> 00:03:49.440 We tell God who He is or we tell God who we think He is when He's revealed Himself to 00:03:49.440 --> 00:03:51.000 us. 00:03:51.000 --> 00:03:52.720 And what He's saying here is He is the Lord. 00:03:52.720 --> 00:03:59.600 Do not take the name of the Lord in the small capital letters reflecting this covenant, 00:03:59.600 --> 00:04:04.680 salvific name of God, Yahweh, that we know about from the Old Testament. 00:04:04.680 --> 00:04:09.920 It's the same name that He revealed Himself with to Moses at the burning bush. 00:04:09.919 --> 00:04:16.000 He said, who will I say that has sent me to redeem the people from slavery? 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:22.279 And He says, tell them that the Lord has sent you, that Yahweh, that I am who I am, has 00:04:22.279 --> 00:04:23.399 sent you. 00:04:23.399 --> 00:04:29.800 This revelation of God's character, the type of God He is, the redeeming, saving God who 00:04:29.800 --> 00:04:33.919 will take His people out of slavery into the promised land. 00:04:33.919 --> 00:04:37.879 A name that's used 700 times in the Old Testament of God. 00:04:37.879 --> 00:04:43.360 It's eternal God of creation who reveals Himself as the one who seeks out His people 00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:47.639 to rescue, redeem and love and be with Him. 00:04:47.639 --> 00:04:53.639 This judge of all the earth, this uncreated one, this great, all-powerful one who brooks 00:04:53.639 --> 00:04:56.600 no rivals. 00:04:56.600 --> 00:04:59.519 Because there aren't any rivals to this one God. 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:04.279 I mean, we've already looked at that a little bit as He's set the scene with command number 00:05:04.279 --> 00:05:07.959 1 and command number 2, haven't we? 00:05:07.959 --> 00:05:12.359 His name as it were in this third command is copyrighted. 00:05:12.359 --> 00:05:13.559 He's copyrighting His name. 00:05:13.559 --> 00:05:17.319 He said, you can't take my name and just append anything to it. 00:05:17.319 --> 00:05:22.039 You can't just make up the God that you want from using my name. 00:05:22.039 --> 00:05:31.399 We can't defame or libel God by just ignoring His own revelation of Himself without consequence. 00:05:31.399 --> 00:05:38.479 And His name, the opposite of being vain, which is empty, spoken of here, His name is 00:05:38.479 --> 00:05:40.120 full. 00:05:40.120 --> 00:05:43.239 His name is weighty, it's glorious. 00:05:43.239 --> 00:05:45.679 It's awesome because He's awesome. 00:05:45.679 --> 00:05:50.159 It's a name that we see revealed throughout the Old Testament in His acts of mercy and 00:05:50.159 --> 00:05:51.560 grace and judgment. 00:05:51.560 --> 00:05:58.479 But it's fulfilled and it comes to its fullness in the person of Jesus Christ, where Jesus 00:05:58.480 --> 00:06:06.400 Himself takes the name, this great name from this great commandment, verily, verily I say 00:06:06.400 --> 00:06:11.879 to you or truly I say to you, He answered when He was speaking to Pharisees Abraham. 00:06:11.879 --> 00:06:14.759 Before Abraham was born, I am. 00:06:14.759 --> 00:06:18.319 It wasn't grammatical mistake. 00:06:18.319 --> 00:06:22.200 At this, we're told the religious leaders picked up the stones to stone Him, but Jesus 00:06:22.200 --> 00:06:25.120 had Himself slipping away from them in the crowds. 00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:30.519 They knew that it was a blasphemous claim, and Jesus is taking upon Himself this great 00:06:30.519 --> 00:06:39.600 name because He is, Hebrews 1.3 tells us the exact representation of the living God. 00:06:39.600 --> 00:06:48.360 And in Philippians 2, we see explained by Paul that this great name is given to Jesus 00:06:48.360 --> 00:06:53.240 because of what He has done on the cross, having humbled Himself and emptied Himself 00:06:53.240 --> 00:06:57.120 and given Himself to death for our sins. 00:06:57.120 --> 00:07:00.560 He said, therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is 00:07:00.560 --> 00:07:06.680 above every name, the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and in earth and 00:07:06.680 --> 00:07:07.680 under there. 00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:11.759 And every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God. 00:07:11.759 --> 00:07:20.680 So we have this great fullness of who Christ is and who God is as He has revealed Himself. 00:07:20.680 --> 00:07:25.759 And yet as I say my own name, you can say your own name, say your own name tonight to 00:07:25.759 --> 00:07:30.439 yourself and say, I like to be on the throne. 00:07:30.439 --> 00:07:33.600 I actually prefer to be in that place. 00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:38.720 I want to live my life how I want without reference to this living God. 00:07:38.720 --> 00:07:43.840 It's good to be in that place of control. 00:07:43.840 --> 00:07:46.639 And that's a challenge for us to consider. 00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:51.399 And as Christians it's a challenge because it should be a battle for us constantly to 00:07:51.399 --> 00:07:58.719 be dethroned and to allow this living God with His glorious name to be on the throne. 00:07:58.719 --> 00:08:04.279 And this God who reveals Himself here in this commandment is reminding us that we are His. 00:08:04.279 --> 00:08:08.919 He said, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. 00:08:08.919 --> 00:08:12.120 It's not just a random God, it's just the God of the universe. 00:08:12.120 --> 00:08:18.319 It's the covenant God of His people and it's the God that we can claim for ourselves. 00:08:18.319 --> 00:08:24.399 But therefore it's a God we need to know and understand and follow and serve. 00:08:24.399 --> 00:08:30.519 So quickly the command says, frame negatively as we've seen before they've got negative 00:08:30.519 --> 00:08:32.039 and positive elements. 00:08:32.039 --> 00:08:36.680 So the negative element, the command does say that we are not to take the name of the 00:08:36.680 --> 00:08:39.200 Lord in vain. 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:40.759 We're not to take God's name. 00:08:40.759 --> 00:08:45.439 In other words, His character, His reputation, His being, His work and empty them of any 00:08:45.439 --> 00:08:52.759 value and make them meaningless, make them worthless, make them of no value whatsoever. 00:08:52.759 --> 00:08:54.080 How do we do that? 00:08:54.080 --> 00:08:58.759 How do we take the name of God and make it worthless? 00:08:58.759 --> 00:09:06.120 Well, I think we can do so by rejecting His own revelation of Himself by saying, you know, 00:09:06.120 --> 00:09:09.720 I'm not really that keen on how He reveals Himself in the Bible. 00:09:09.720 --> 00:09:16.080 I would rather the God that I would trust in acts like this and does that. 00:09:16.080 --> 00:09:23.759 We mold a God that's kind of easier to serve, that is much more pliable and much more manageable. 00:09:23.759 --> 00:09:26.160 And we know the devil's been doing that from the beginning too. 00:09:26.160 --> 00:09:27.759 Is God really like that? 00:09:27.759 --> 00:09:29.600 Is that what God's like? 00:09:29.600 --> 00:09:30.879 We want Him in the same way. 00:09:30.879 --> 00:09:32.240 We want Him in a box. 00:09:32.240 --> 00:09:34.720 We want Him neat and controlled and manageable. 00:09:34.720 --> 00:09:41.160 We can take God in it and take Him out every so often, a sit in the mantle and just look 00:09:41.160 --> 00:09:49.560 at now and again, rejecting how He's revealed Himself and making, I guess, looking back 00:09:49.560 --> 00:09:57.920 to the previous commandment, making an image in our own, from our own minds. 00:09:57.920 --> 00:10:03.040 But I think we can break this command also by claiming as authority for our own ends. 00:10:03.039 --> 00:10:08.839 You know, when we claim, take the name of God and append it or use it as a reason for 00:10:08.839 --> 00:10:11.759 our justification for acting in a certain way. 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:13.959 Well, God told me to do this. 00:10:13.959 --> 00:10:16.480 This is what God wants me to do. 00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:20.279 Maybe it's something that's not clear in the Bibles, maybe not revealed. 00:10:20.279 --> 00:10:24.519 And we have to be careful when we say that because actually sometimes it might just be 00:10:24.519 --> 00:10:27.519 that we're doing what we want to do. 00:10:27.519 --> 00:10:34.519 And we're just using God's imprimatur to make it justifiable and to make it really great. 00:10:34.519 --> 00:10:38.679 When actually we're not listening to Him and we're not following Him. 00:10:38.679 --> 00:10:44.039 And what we're doing might not be particularly loving or gracious or beneficial or good for 00:10:44.039 --> 00:10:47.879 us in our lives. 00:10:47.879 --> 00:10:51.799 But I think the commandment also speaks into empty worship and maybe that's the big one 00:10:51.799 --> 00:10:58.399 for all of us in many ways, and not just about church, but our lives. 00:10:58.399 --> 00:11:04.639 So that our lives are Christian faith, it's as if the lights are on, but there's just 00:11:04.639 --> 00:11:06.120 nobody at home. 00:11:06.120 --> 00:11:11.799 See, we say that we're following Jesus, but there's nothing, our prayers are empty of 00:11:11.799 --> 00:11:13.000 any kind of life. 00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:16.039 They make no difference whatsoever as we pray. 00:11:16.039 --> 00:11:20.319 We're not thinking of the God that we're praying to when we pray. 00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:23.480 It's a big part in our lives, not a big part in our lives. 00:11:23.480 --> 00:11:25.879 The Word is it's read or the Word is it's preached. 00:11:25.879 --> 00:11:32.080 We have no expect, expectancy of anything valuable happening when we read His Word. 00:11:32.080 --> 00:11:34.120 No, God is empty. 00:11:34.120 --> 00:11:36.360 He's empty of any, He's worthless and cheap. 00:11:36.360 --> 00:11:39.440 There's nothing really we gain from Him. 00:11:39.440 --> 00:11:43.440 Abedience becomes a matter of choice and convenience. 00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:52.680 And we find ourselves creeping back onto that throne of significance and importance and 00:11:52.680 --> 00:11:55.120 edging God out of the picture. 00:11:55.120 --> 00:12:01.280 I think that is taking God's name in vain in our lives because we're emptying it, and 00:12:01.280 --> 00:12:04.920 emptying Him of who He is and of His glory. 00:12:04.920 --> 00:12:08.720 Now there's the obvious one I guess as well, is blaspheming. 00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:15.320 We were taking His vain, the OMG chorus of a million voices who take God's name and just 00:12:15.320 --> 00:12:19.000 use it as a turn of phrase. 00:12:19.000 --> 00:12:23.800 We're calling out God and Jesus Christ, but it means nothing. 00:12:23.800 --> 00:12:29.440 And I guess there's a subtle rejection of the God who reveals Himself when we take His 00:12:29.440 --> 00:12:35.600 name in that way without thinking about who He is. 00:12:35.600 --> 00:12:37.600 Yes. 00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:41.399 The heavenly choir. 00:12:41.399 --> 00:12:45.440 That's quite all right. 00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:46.440 Blaspheming. 00:12:46.440 --> 00:12:55.080 And the hypocrisy would be the other one that maybe we consider more technically breaking 00:12:55.080 --> 00:13:02.240 this command where we use the goodness of the name of God to lie, maybe lying under 00:13:02.240 --> 00:13:10.720 the oath when we claim we're telling the truth in God's name, call God to account, but actually 00:13:10.720 --> 00:13:19.279 we're using it as a cover for lying. 00:13:19.279 --> 00:13:24.200 And that can be true of our Christian lives as well, that we use our Christian faith. 00:13:24.200 --> 00:13:33.400 And I say, well, I'm a Christian and I go to church and I read the Bible as a mask for 00:13:33.400 --> 00:13:39.960 an underworld life that is dishonouring to God, a hidden life of maybe lust or greed, 00:13:39.960 --> 00:13:48.120 a dark web of betrayal that is in our hearts where we're taking His name and calling on 00:13:48.120 --> 00:13:52.040 His name and calling ourselves Christian, but we're denying who He is. 00:13:52.039 --> 00:13:58.519 Why is it the case that you shall not, these you shall nots, and why is it significant? 00:13:58.519 --> 00:14:03.279 Well, He says the Lord will not hold Him guiltless who takes His name in vain. 00:14:03.279 --> 00:14:07.559 And it's a reminder to us, simple reminder to us that we're accountable to this great 00:14:07.559 --> 00:14:08.559 and living God. 00:14:08.559 --> 00:14:11.360 He is the judge of all the earth. 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:14.039 He is the judge, not us. 00:14:14.039 --> 00:14:19.839 And we will be gone in an instant to meet with Him. 00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:25.320 And it's coming to the recognition we simply don't fit on His throne. 00:14:25.320 --> 00:14:27.000 It's not the place where we're to be. 00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:28.759 There's no room for us there. 00:14:28.759 --> 00:14:34.280 And so the command, the word is a call, always a thank for us. 00:14:34.280 --> 00:14:40.160 His memory is speaking to His own people, to us, a call to repentance, to recognise 00:14:40.160 --> 00:14:44.680 that we are guilty, very often in our lives, our thoughts of taking His name in vain, treating 00:14:44.680 --> 00:14:48.280 Him like emptiness and nothing. 00:14:48.279 --> 00:14:53.879 Because we choose to be the ones who tower over Him in judgment and make the decisions 00:14:53.879 --> 00:14:56.879 about what is right and wrong. 00:14:56.879 --> 00:15:00.799 His is justice and His is judgment, not for us. 00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:09.679 So we are to be those who cry out in an ongoing way for His beautiful repentance and forgiveness 00:15:09.679 --> 00:15:10.679 that He promises. 00:15:10.679 --> 00:15:14.519 Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. 00:15:14.519 --> 00:15:21.079 And we're to continue to be a people who are continually looking at His own self-revelation 00:15:21.079 --> 00:15:26.480 and reminding ourselves of where we fall short so that we can know newness and freshness 00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:31.559 and vibrancy and joy in His presence. 00:15:31.559 --> 00:15:38.240 And briefly as we conclude, the positive side of that is that in Christ we genuinely 00:15:38.240 --> 00:15:45.639 see Him for who He is and we remind ourselves of what it means to call on the name of the 00:15:45.639 --> 00:15:51.879 Lord and who this Lord is and how He is to be reflected in our lives. 00:15:51.879 --> 00:15:55.960 Remember He carries us on eagle's wings to Himself. 00:15:55.960 --> 00:16:00.759 Remember that's the precursor, that's the verse before these Ten Commandments. 00:16:00.759 --> 00:16:04.240 He talks about the people as He took them out of Egypt, that I carried you on eagle's 00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:05.560 wings to myself. 00:16:05.559 --> 00:16:13.159 A beautiful, gentle, intimate picture of His grace and love. 00:16:13.159 --> 00:16:19.679 And our relationship with the Father through Christ is a relationship that transcends anything 00:16:19.679 --> 00:16:21.439 that the world can offer. 00:16:21.439 --> 00:16:26.959 And we are made to worship Him, we are made to allow Him to sit on His throne and to be 00:16:26.959 --> 00:16:31.959 the center of the universe and allow ourselves by His grace to be reborn with a different 00:16:31.960 --> 00:16:38.800 love and a different spirit which reflects the name of God and which reflects His character 00:16:38.800 --> 00:16:43.639 and to live in His presence as believers. 00:16:43.639 --> 00:16:49.500 And so positively, I think the reminder of the command here and indeed all the commands 00:16:49.500 --> 00:16:52.480 is we need the gospel every day. 00:16:52.480 --> 00:16:58.240 We don't mature beyond the gospel. 00:16:58.240 --> 00:17:03.399 The gospel is not just for beginners and then we become experts. 00:17:03.399 --> 00:17:09.240 We constantly need the gospel because that is the character of our God. 00:17:09.240 --> 00:17:11.079 He's a rescuing and a redeeming God. 00:17:11.079 --> 00:17:17.279 We constantly need His relentless peace and forgiveness as we return to Him. 00:17:17.279 --> 00:17:21.000 As we recognize failure happens in our lives, we fall short. 00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:24.200 But don't ignore that or suppress that. 00:17:24.200 --> 00:17:30.279 Take it to Him and know His forgiveness and grace because I genuinely believe that every 00:17:30.279 --> 00:17:35.360 repentant prayer makes you more alive. 00:17:35.360 --> 00:17:40.799 Every repentant prayer makes you more alive, makes you more like who you are created to 00:17:40.799 --> 00:17:48.440 be because you come to Him and allow Him to remold you by His grace and by His goodness. 00:17:48.440 --> 00:17:53.559 And it enables us then to give Him the glory because He deserves that glory in our lives 00:17:53.559 --> 00:18:00.279 because His name is worthy, is not empty, and we hold Him up in our lives and we allow 00:18:00.279 --> 00:18:08.599 Him and His transformation to be at the core of our beings. 00:18:08.599 --> 00:18:16.399 And we make His name great and we honor Him and we make His name full, not empty, by a 00:18:16.399 --> 00:18:22.399 relentless and a sacrificial obedience of love. 00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:29.000 We want to serve Him because He's worthy of that and because He's good, not because we're 00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:32.880 grumbling and complaining and wishing we were unbelievers. 00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:38.600 I always think it's that amazing verse in the Old Testament which speaks in the Numbers, 00:18:38.600 --> 00:18:41.560 speaks about the Israelites when they were in the desert for a little while and they've 00:18:41.560 --> 00:18:47.920 been rescued from the desperate slavery they were in and they were being given manna to 00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:48.920 eat. 00:18:48.920 --> 00:18:53.480 And all of us started grumbling and saying, gee, we're back in Egypt, it was great, we 00:18:53.480 --> 00:19:00.680 had melons and cucumbers and pomegranates and they kind of make up this absolute make-believe 00:19:00.680 --> 00:19:06.600 world that they had back in Egypt as if they were in the Pharaoh's palace, eating all these 00:19:06.600 --> 00:19:07.600 things. 00:19:07.600 --> 00:19:13.759 They were dying by the day because they were being, they were enslaved to build and weren't 00:19:13.759 --> 00:19:19.079 being given the resources in order to build and they were being whipped and beaten and 00:19:19.079 --> 00:19:20.079 enslaved. 00:19:20.079 --> 00:19:27.359 We make His name glorious and it's not empty in vain when we share His generous love in 00:19:27.359 --> 00:19:34.680 our lives with the lost, the lonely and the least. 00:19:34.680 --> 00:19:41.119 Because that's who we are without Him, that's what we do, the lost, the lonely and the least. 00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:44.639 We're sharing His glory and His love. 00:19:44.639 --> 00:19:49.519 And I think we're making His name great and we're able to, down a bit, down a bit, we're 00:19:49.519 --> 00:19:56.919 able to know that transforming power of the Spirit who blows away the cobwebs of ordinariness 00:19:56.919 --> 00:20:03.299 and routine and having a small God when we are making His name great and we're depending 00:20:03.299 --> 00:20:06.119 on Him in the Spirit. 00:20:06.119 --> 00:20:13.439 We pray in the Spirit, we pray with the living God in our hearts and lives and we should pray 00:20:13.439 --> 00:20:17.879 with the expectation that that brings to us. 00:20:17.879 --> 00:20:23.799 And we make His name great, I think, just as we rely on Him, as we gain His wisdom and 00:20:23.799 --> 00:20:30.919 as we become the unique and beautiful people He created us to be in a broken and in a lost 00:20:30.920 --> 00:20:38.039 world where suffering and pain will be our lot at some point. 00:20:38.039 --> 00:20:46.360 But we know that He will never leave us or forsake us, like He promised on His own name 00:20:46.360 --> 00:20:48.640 and His own character. 00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:54.400 Right from the revelation that He gave His name to Moses, He said, I will always be with 00:20:54.400 --> 00:20:55.400 you. 00:20:55.400 --> 00:21:01.240 And we need to remember that and we need to remind ourselves of His great and glorious 00:21:01.240 --> 00:21:02.240 love. 00:21:02.240 --> 00:21:04.160 Don't live on empty. 00:21:04.160 --> 00:21:11.400 It's easy to live on empty and it's easy to make God empty and meaningless in our lives 00:21:11.400 --> 00:21:22.880 by draining His revelation from Himself and putting in our own understanding of who we 00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:27.600 think God is, He's far too great for that. 00:21:27.600 --> 00:21:35.520 And each day we're called to make a new start, recognizing His revelation of Himself and molding 00:21:35.520 --> 00:21:40.640 our lives towards that because He's good and holy and He loves us and He will never leave 00:21:40.640 --> 00:21:42.160 us. 00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:48.520 And if you're not a Christian, that's the great encouragement to recognize that while 00:21:48.519 --> 00:21:57.200 His justice is great and we will all stand before Him, His mercy is glorious and He has 00:21:57.200 --> 00:22:04.920 taken our sins and our feelings and He has paid the price on His own shoulders so that 00:22:04.920 --> 00:22:11.839 we might live and know fellowship and friendship with this sovereign Yahweh Lord. 00:22:11.839 --> 00:22:12.839 Let's pray. 00:22:12.839 --> 00:22:16.839 Father God, we ask and pray that you would teach us your way. 00:22:16.839 --> 00:22:23.240 Guide us in your truth, guide us to understand and know you. 00:22:23.240 --> 00:22:29.639 And in these 10 words that we're looking at to see your character reflected, to see the 00:22:29.639 --> 00:22:41.199 great person of Jesus who perfectly fulfilled this command and who honored your name and 00:22:41.200 --> 00:22:51.720 who yet was emptied himself of His glory in order to be a redeemer and our Saviour, whose 00:22:51.720 --> 00:22:57.680 name was hidden as it were so that we could be saved. 00:22:57.680 --> 00:23:01.160 So we pray that we would know and understand you better. 00:23:01.160 --> 00:23:07.360 Encourage us, fire up our prayer lives, we pray, as we think of the one to whom we pray. 00:23:07.359 --> 00:23:14.959 Give us expectation, give us trust, give us reliance on you, we ask, and help us to know 00:23:14.959 --> 00:23:20.000 the beauty of the name of Jesus in our hearts and lives. 00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:21.639 We ask it in His precious name. 00:23:21.640 --> 00:23:37.720 Amen.